Bøker av Dilip Sarkar

How to fly the legendary fighter plane in combat using the manuals and instructions supplied by the RAF during the Second World War. An amazing array of leaflets, books and manuals were issued by the War Office during the Second World War to aid pilots in flying the Supermarine Spitfire, here for the first time and using the original 1940s setting, they are collated into a single book. An introduction is supplied by expert aviation historian Dilip Sarkar. Other sections include aircraft recognition, how to act as an RAF officer, bailing out etc.

The truth & the myths about the legless Battle of Britain fighter ace

The third in an eight-volume history of the Battle of Britain.

On 14 October each year, a White Ensign is placed on the stern of an upturned warship by Royal Navy divers. This act commemorates the 835 men of HMS Royal Oak who died in 1939 when the battleship was sunk at anchor in Scapa Flow by the German U-boat U-47.The sinking of the veteran First World War Revenge-class Royal Oak shocked not only the Admiralty, but the whole nation. Though Scapa Flow was far from being impregnable as a base for the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, it was surrounded by a ring of islands separated by shallow channels subject to fast-racing tides. While it was recognized that it was not impervious to enemy submarines, measures had been put in place to minimize any such threat. Blockships had been sunk at potentially vulnerable points and anti-submarine booms deployed across the wider channels. The outbreak of war in September 1939 saw additional anti-submarine measures put in hand.Despite these increased precautions, German aerial reconnaissance had spotted weaknesses which were exploited on the night of 13/14 October 1939, by Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien in U-47. The German submarine was able to slip into Scapa Flow undetected and fire three torpedoes towards Royal Oak. Only one torpedo found its mark. A second salvo was fired and this time all three hit the battleship, igniting a magazine causing massive damage. Within thirteen minutes, HMS Royal Oak had turned over and sank.In Faces of HMS Royal Oak, Dilip Sarkar not only reveals the tragic and moving stories of many of those who died, but also some of the 399 who survived the sinking of the first Royal Navy battleship lost in the Second World War.Through their photographs, and in some cases words, the horrors of those fateful few minutes as Royal Oak rolled and slid into the cold, dark waters of Scapa Flow, are relived in startling clarity.

Continuing his examination of the events of the Spitfire Summer, in Battle of Britain: The Breaking Storm Dilip provides a day-by-day chronicle of the Battle of Britain s first phase the so-called Kanalkampf which was fought over the Channel-bound convoys between 10 July and 12 August 1940.

This biography of a remarkable airman and politician is written with the support of the Malan family. The author has been allowed access to family records, facilitating a much more personal biography than those previously.

Compiled in association with the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, the charity charged with caring for the National Memorial to the Few in Kent. The first in a seven-volume history of the Battle of Britain.

The Supermarine Spitfire arguably remains the most iconic fighter aircraft ever produced. Unsurprisingly, it has become a symbol of British excellence and national pride.

The photographs presented here, some for the first time, provide the reader with a fascinating window on the past, through which we get an authentic glimpse of the summer of 1940 and The Few themselves.

The TV presenter and newsreader Jan Leeming reveals her journey into Mouchotte's courageous and inspirational story.

During the Second World War, the British movie industry produced a number of films concerning the war, all of which were, by necessity, heavily myth-laden and propagandised. Foremost among these productions was The First of the Few, which was the biggest grossing film of 1942.In the immediate post-war period, to start with there were no British aviation war films. The first to be released was Angels One Five in 1952. It was well-received, confirming that the Battle of Britain was a commercial commodity.Over the next few years, many famous war heroes published their memoirs, or had books written about them, including the legless Group Captain Douglas Bader, whose story, Reach for the Sky, told by Paul Brickhill, became a best-seller in 1956. It was followed a year later by the film of the same name, which, starring Kenneth More, dominated that year's box office.The early Battle of Britain films had tended to focus upon the story of individuals, not the bigger picture. That changed with the release of the star-studded epic Battle of Britain in 1969. Using real aircraft, the film, produced in color and on a far larger scale than had been seen on film before, was notable for its spectacular flying sequences.Between the release of Reach for the Sky and Battle of Britain, however, much had changed for modern Britain. For a variety of reasons many felt that the story of the nation's pivotal moment in the Second World War was something best buried and forgotten. Indeed, the overall box office reaction to Battle of Britain reinforced this view - all of which might explain why it was the last big screen treatment of this topic for many years.It was during the Battle of Britain's seventieth anniversary year that the subject returned to the nation's screens when Matthew Wightman's docudrama First Light was first broadcast. Essentially a serialisation of Spitfire pilot Geoffrey Wellum's best-selling memoir of the same title, Wightman cleverly combined clips of Wellum as an old man talking about the past with his new drama footage. The series is, in the opinion of the author, the best portrayal of an individual's Battle of Britain experience to have been made.In this fascinating exploration of the Battle of Britain on the big screen, renowned historian and author Dilip Sarkar examines the popular memory and myths of each of these productions and delves into the arguments between historians and the filmmakers. Just how true to the events of the summer of 1940 are they, and how much have they added to the historical record of 'The Finest Hour'?

While the technical details of the aircraft and weapons involved are, of course, crucial to our understanding of the events that summer, the Battle was fought by human beings - and it is that human experience and contribution, to this author, is the most important thing to acknowledge, record and share.

Profoundly moved by the stories of wartime casualties as a child, Dilip Sarkar has since spent a lifetime reconstructing the lives of many of the fallen and is passionate about recording and sharing this very personal hidden history. In this book he explores the stories of 13 pilots who failed to return either in action or flying accidents.

Tangmere 1941. Dilip Sarkar explores the full story of the men and machines of the Tangmere Wing in 1941.

This publication is the culmination of decades of correspondence with many of the Few, those individuals entitled to the immediate award of the Battle of Britain Clasp. Many of the letters contain unique stories, information or recollections that the writer has never previously revealed before.

Although there were many more Hawker Hurricanes than Supermarine Spitfires engaged in the epic conflict fought over southern England in the summer of 1940, the public's imagination was captured by the shapely and charismatic Spitfire. According to legend, however, the Hurricane executed far greater damage on the enemy than all other defenses combined, and was therefore the unsung hero of our 'Finest Hour'. New research, analysed and interpreted by Dilip Sarkar however, confirms that the Spitfire, although less in number, was in fact supreme, and destroyed an equal number of enemy machines to the more numerous Hurricane force. Featuring interviews with pilots who flew to war in both Spitfires and Hurricanes, and following a detailed analysis of combat reports and casualty records, Dilip Sarkar shatters the myth surrounding the Hurricane and argues that the Battle of Britain could have been won by Spitfires, but not Hurricanes, alone. A controversial thesis likely to provoke lively debate, the evidence presented by this retired police detective and expert aviation historian is nonetheless indisputable.

Provides an analysis of fatalities suffered by the RAF in the Battle of Britain.

An analysis of fatalities in the battle for the bridge at Arnhem, with detailed biographical sketches of men killed from most units involved.

Johnnie Johnson is a character literally straight out of the pages of ' Boys Own'. By the end of the Second World War the RAF Spitfire pilot was a household name in Britain, feted by Churchill and Eisenhower. Although he missed the Battle of Britain, when slow- flying bombers were abundant and easy targets for fighters, by 1945 he had notched up 381/2 enemy 'kills' - all fighters, which took far more skill to shoot down - and was officially the RAF's top-scoring fighter ace. One of his most impressive achievements was that, despite participating in over 1,000 combat missions, he was never shot down. His Spitfire was damaged once, and on his return to base he apologised to his fitter, saying, 'I was surrounded by six of them.' Aviation historian Dilip Sarkar spent many hours with Johnson in the final years of the great man's life, recording the last interviews Johnson ever gave. The book is infused with breathtaking firsthand accounts from Johnnie himself and many of his fellow Spitfire pilots, also interviewed by the author, and profusely illustrated with photographs from Johnson's personal albums.